


Encounter

by Seattlesweetie113



Category: Station 19 (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-13
Updated: 2019-03-13
Packaged: 2019-11-16 16:19:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,337
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18097826
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Seattlesweetie113/pseuds/Seattlesweetie113
Summary: The one where Ripley meets Mayhorn and things go swimmingly. Just swimmingly.





	Encounter

**Author's Note:**

> Just a quick little story I wrote after wanting to see a Mayhorn/Ripley confrontation.

The stomach bug was going around the entire city of Seattle. News stations and radio stations were reminding the people of Seattle on a daily basis to remember to wash those hands with warm soapy water and keep everything disinfected. 

So that’s what Vic was doing, much to Ripley’s amusement. 

They had been sitting at the kitchen table after breakfast that morning, before getting ready to go to work, when Vic suddenly got up and grabbed the Lysol wipes from the cabinet and started wiping everything. 

“Vic what are you doing?” Lucas asked with an amused smile on his face. 

“You heard the news reporter. The stomach bug is going around, you already know that. And I am definitely not getting sick, so this entire house is going to be disinfected” She said running around the kitchen wiping everything. 

“Okay well, I don’t really think cleaning the handle of the fridge is going to prevent you from getting sick” he joked, letting out a laugh. 

She just shot him a glare and stuck her tongue out. 

He sighed before turning his attention back to his laptop in front of him, “you’re right though, I just checked my email and there’s already firefighters calling out all over the department. I’m gonna have to switch some people around to get proper coverage across our stations” he said shaking his head and running his fingers through his hair. It was going to be a long day. 

Vic could tell he was a little stressed about it so she stopped wiping, and walked over to him. She stepped up behind him in the chair and rubbed her hands over his shoulders, working out some of the knots she could feel. Then leaned over and laid her cheek against his. 

“It’ll be okay baby. You’ll figure it out. You always do” she said squeezing his shoulders a little, and then pressing a kiss against his cheek, before going back to wiping. 

He sighed, “I know it will, I just hate having to move different firefighters to different stations and messing with the flow of the teams.” 

It was a reasonable concern. Some people just don’t get along well with others, so they definitely wouldn’t work well together at a scene. 

Which Vic understood, she had to cover for someone at another station once and it was a terrible experience. She didn’t get along well with most of the team and she hated the captain at that station, and the captain definitely hated her and so it made the entire shift that much worse. Luckily for her though, she only had to spend a day there, and she also happened to know the chief of the fire department and after sharing some choice words with him, they agreed she wouldn’t go to that station again. Vic smirked to herself remembering the conversation, she definitely wears the pants in this relationship. 

She finished wiping, before glancing over at the clock and deciding that they both needed to shower soon or they’d be late for the start of shift. And that definitely would not be ideal considering so many people were out with the bug. 

So she walked over to Lucas and shut his laptop as he was typing, mid email. 

He looked up at her with surprise, “Oh, yeah sure, I was done with that, that’s fine” 

She smiled down at him and grabbed his hand pulling him up from the table. “I figured since we are running a little behind schedule, we could conserve some water and save some time, by showering together” she peered over her shoulder at him, as she led him towards the bathroom. Swaying her hips just that little bit extra that drove him wild. 

“I like the way you think” he said as he pulled on her hand and twirled her back around, before lifting her by the hips and carrying her over his shoulder. 

“Lucas!” She giggled, hitting his butt. And boy did he have a nice butt. Must be an Australian thing. 

“Water, will definitely be conserved, but we may be in there awhile” He said and then smacked her ass back, before closing the bathroom door with his foot. 

——-  
Two hours later, they were late for the start of shift, but it was fine because Lucas was starting at her station. 

After their shower, which definitely didn’t conserve water nor time, he had to finish the email he started. He knew he had to move some firefighters around for the day but it was more complicated than it seemed, and unfortunately not his first choice of firefighters, but he had to do what would work. 

They parked out front of the station and walked in together before sharing a brief kiss and parting ways. It had been a few months since the aid car incident and Herrera and Sullivan were back, and Lucas and Vic had come out to her team and HR. They agreed to limit the PDA but they still stole kisses whenever they could. 

Vic headed for the locker room, while Lucas went to go talk to Sullivan about the switches that he’d be making. They were down Dean and Gibson because of this bug and Warren wasn’t feeling too hot, so 19 desperately needed firefighters to fill in. However, what neither Vic nor Lucas realized was that one of the replacements arrived early to start their shift.  
———  
Victoria walked into the locker room, mindlessly walking, smiling to herself thinking about her and Ripley’s little morning romp in the shower. 

She got to her locker and put her stuff away, she had her uniform on already to save time, just had to throw her bag in. She closed her locker and was about to head to the kitchen for breakfast when she stopped short. 

“Mayhorn!?” Oh, She definitely was not expecting this. 

He looked up just as surprised. “Hughes- uhm, Vic, hi-“ 

She cut him off. “What are you doing here?” She hadn’t seen him since the last time they... whatever you want to call it. And she never returned his calls. So what was he doing at her station. 

“Uh, I’m covering for your team today. Your a few guys down, so I’m filling in. Chiefs orders.” He said looking at her. She could see him giving her a quick once over, but she ignored it. 

Chiefs orders. Vic didn’t know Lucas got Mayhorn to cover 19. Surely he would’ve told her. He knows they had a thing, but that was months ago and has long since ended. She didn’t even think she’d see him again, since 23 is across town. This was going to be extremely weird. But before she could think more on it, they were being called for line up.  
_____

Vic stood at the opposite end of Mayhorn, and she could see Lucas wasn’t making eye contact with her so that means he must’ve known about Mayhorn and he must also know that she’s not happy. 

“As you guys can see, we’re down a few guys today and could possibly be down more. So we had to pull a few from other stations to compensate. It’s not just your station, all of our stations across the board have been affected so we are trying to properly cover all of our stations until we get people back” Lucas stated, looking at everyone but Vic.

He continued, “So for the rest of shift, please welcome Mayhorn from 23 and Williams from 88. They’ll be covering Dean and Gibson” 

Suddenly, Vic’s entire team shot her a look, while she looked at Lucas, who was still not looking at her. 

 

It was quiet for a couple of seconds, and Sullivan noticed that nobody was going to speak so he decided to end things there.

“Alright, chore assignments are up so get to it, you guys are dismissed” Sullivan said, before giving them all a weird look and then calling Andy back to his office. 

Andy and Sullivan secretly had a thing going that they thought nobody knew about it, when in reality everyone knows. Vic shook her head, but that was not the problem at the moment. 

She walked directly over to Lucas and pulled him behind an engine. 

“Are you kidding me?” Vic said crossing her arms over her chest and raising an eyebrow at him.

“I know” he sighed. “It was the only option I had. Trust me, it’s the last thing i wanted” 

“There’s nobody else you could’ve gotten?” 

Vic found it hard to believe that out of the entire department, Mayhorn had to be the one to cover. 

“It’s the only way I could get proper coverage everywhere else. Look Victoria it’s only a shift I promise. He’ll be gone by the end of tomorrow.” 

“Fine. One shift. But let the record show, I’m not happy about this” she said, and walked off. 

Lucas shook his head, he wasn’t either. Mayhorn was a pretty boy type. Confident cuz he looked like the ultimate firefighter. Cocky. Which didn’t impress Lucas, but somehow impressed Vic at one point in time. 

Which still unsettled him a little knowing that he and Victoria had been a thing just weeks before he was. He was jealous. He shook his head, clearing his thoughts. One shift. It’s just one shift. He kept that mantra in his head all day.  
_____

Vic had been furiously restocking the Halogens when Mayhorn came in. She didn’t even hear him until she heard the door close. 

“Vic?” 

“Holy shit. Mayhorn. You scared me.” 

He laughed. “Sorry I didn’t mean to scare you. I just figured we should talk” 

It was silent for a moment, before Vic continued. 

“I know we didn’t end things very well, not really well at all actually. But I did have fun with you, I just wanted you to know that” 

“You didn’t even call me back, Vic” he said in a low, almost hurt voice. 

Her face flushed. She was embarrassed. The reason she didn’t call him back was because not too long later she found herself wrapped in the arms of a strong Australian-American firefighter with gorgeous blue eyes and blonde hair, to which nobody else really compared. So yeah she didn’t call Mayhorn back. 

“I’m sorry-..” she began. 

He cut her off. 

“Maybe we can try it again. Let’s get drinks after shift tomorrow” 

Vic looked at him wide eyed. She was definitely not expecting that. Her and Lucas came out to her team and HR, but apparently it still hasn’t gotten around to the other stations. Which was weird considering how fast the rumor mill gossiped. 

“What- Uh, Look Mayhorn I had a good time with you, but-“ 

Suddenly the alarm went off that there was a structure fire and they were being called out. 

“So drinks tomorrow night? I’ll see ya at 8” he winked and ran out of the room. 

Vic was just standing there with her mouth open, not quite getting to the part that she was in a relationship with the Chief and had been for several months. Welp, Mayhorn was in for a rude awakening. 

Vic shook her head and ran out to the bay to get her gear and suit up. It was going to be a long day.  
———  
The structure fire went relatively well. They had a little trouble venting it and had a little miscommunication among the team, but that was expected considering they had two new members who didn’t really know their team or the lay of the land. 

But they got the fire under control, and the family all made it out safely so things went well overall. 

When they got back to the station, Vic did everything she could to avoid Mayhorn, and because of that, was kind of avoiding Lucas because she didn’t want to accidentally run into Lucas and Mayhorn at the same time and make things more awkward than they already were. Not that either of them knew that. 

Then her phone buzzed. 

Come to my office. Miss you. 

Welp, so much for trying to avoid him. 

She did miss him though, it was a long shift not sneaking off to see him. But she didn’t want to risk running into Mayhorn. 

She quickly made her way to the office and softly knocked on the door before opening it and poking her head in. 

“You rang?” She said with a smirk on her face. 

He lifted his head from the paperwork he was doing, and gave her a smile that he really only did around her. 

“I just wanted to see you” 

“I don’t blame you, I am pretty irresistible” she winked at him and then walked over to the desk. 

He stood and met her half way and then grabbed her cheeks and gave her one long sweet kiss. 

“Hi” 

“Hi” she looked up at him a small smile on her face. 

“I was waiting to do this all shift” 

She smiled and kissed him again. And they kissed for several long seconds, until she sighed and pulled away. 

“What’s wrong?” He asked as she buried her face in his chest. 

“He doesn’t know” she said muffled into his shirt. 

“What was that?” 

She pulled away from his chest and said, “Mayhorn. He doesn’t know you and I are together” 

“I’m not following Vic” 

“He asked me to get drinks with him at the bar after shift” she eyed him. 

Ripley couldn’t help but start laughing. He couldn’t control it. 

“It’s not funny! He thinks I’m going out with him” she slapped his chest. 

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I’m just trying to imagine his face when he finds out.” 

“Oh my god, well if you think it’s so funny, you can tell him” 

He sobered up and looked at her, “get him in here, I’ll tell him right now. Hell I’ll even show him.” He said stepping closer to her and pulled her in by the hips, pressing a gentle kiss to her lips. 

She stepped back, “Stop it. You’re not going to do that.” 

“Why not? I think he’d get the picture”

“Oh I’m sure he’d get it loud and clear Chief but I don’t think that should be the way he finds out” 

Ripley chuckled, “Alright so how do you want to tell him?” 

“I’ll tell him at the end of shift. No need to make things more awkward today.” 

“Good idea” he kissed her again. Nibbling on the spot behind her ear that makes her moan. “Now I think I know something better that we could do with our down time right now”

“Chief Ripley, are you suggesting what I think you are?” 

“If you think what I am suggesting involves you, and me, and the captains bed than that would be exactly what I’m thinking” he said whispering in her ear and then kissing his way down her neck. 

“Exactly what i was thinking” she said seductively. 

He ran his hands down her back, and grabbed her ass and lifted her up, walking them backwards to the bed in the back. Spending the next hour of the shift, catching up.  
——  
It was one hour until the end of shift, and  
Vic couldn’t wait to get out of here and go home with Lucas. But first she needed to confront Mayhorn. Honestly she considered just leaving with Lucas after shift, because this was the only shift she would have with him anyway, so it didn’t really matter. But Vic was too nice to do that. She had to tell him the truth. 

So she was pacing the kitchen of the station trying to think about what she would say when Travis caught her. 

“You okay Vic? I’ve been watching you pace for 10 minutes” he said amused. 

She stopped and glared at him. 

“Didn’t your mom tell you that it’s rude to stare at people?” 

“Didn’t your mom tell you that it’s rude to be rude to your friends” 

She sighed and walked over to the table to sit down. Travis followed. 

“Mayhorn asked me out for drinks” 

“Uh, and how does Rip feel about that?” 

“He thought it was funny” 

“Ooookay. Not exactly what I expected” 

“He thought it would be funny to see Mayhorns face when he finds out that Lucas and I are seeing each other” 

Travis laughed at that too. “Oh it definitely will be” 

“Not helping Trav” 

 

She glared at him and he stopped laughing. 

“Sorry Vic. But honestly I don’t understand what the problem is? Just tell Mayhorn you guys are seeing each other. It’s not like you and Mayhorn seriously dated anyway, you only went on like what two dates?” 

“Three” Vic responded sheepishly. 

“Okay, three whatever. What’s the big deal?” 

“I just feel bad because I never really ended it. I just stopped answering his texts and calls and hoped he’d get the message. Now he’s gonna figure out that’s because I was hooking up with the Chief. What is he gonna think about me? That I’m just sleeping around the department?” 

“Woah Vic hold on, first off, since when do you care what others think about you? You’re the first one to say screw them. Second, he’ll see what everyone else sees. That you love Ripley.” 

Vic looked at him with wide eyes.

“Oh yeah, don’t think we don’t know. You love him just as much as he loves you. So it doesn’t matter what Mayhorn thinks because it wouldn’t have worked out with him anyway, you and Ripley were meant to be together. So don’t stress, just be honest with him” 

Vic sighed, Travis was right, she just needs to be honest. 

“Why are you always right?” She asked him. 

“Because I’m Travis” he smirked at her and then got up. 

“Where are you going?” 

“I think you have some chatting to do” and then he nodded his head in the direction of the end of the hallway, where Mayhorn was walking towards them. 

“Montgomery” he nodded at him as he walked by. 

“Mayhorn” Travis nodded back as he passed. Then turned around and gave Vic a thumbs up. She rolled her eyes. 

Mayhorn made his way over to the fridge, grabbed a water and stood at the island. Vic took a deep breath and then stood up and walked to the opposite side of the island. 

“I’m excited for drinks after shift” he said when she stood up. 

“Yeah, about that..”

“Look I know we ended things on a weird note, but I’m willing to overlook that. I think we really had something, and I would like to get to know you better.” He said with a smile on his face. 

Vic wanted to throw up. This wasnt going to be easy as easy as Travis made it seem. 

She took a deep breath, and then blurted out, “I’m seeing someone” 

He finished taking a sip of his water and set it down. 

“Oh..” and before he could continue, Vic finished. 

“And before you ask, yes it’s serious. I care about him a lot. So as much as you may think this was going to work, It wont. And I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad news but I didn’t want to lead you on. You are a nice guy Mayhorn but you’re just not meant to be mine, you deserve someone better.” 

There she said it, that wasn’t so bad. 

“Who is he?” Mayhorn asked.  
Vic was about to open her mouth when the door at the end of the hallway opened and Lucas came out looking at his phone. 

“Ready to go home, ‘toria?” he asked without looking up, until silence met him and then he finally looked up and saw who was in front of him. 

“Oh- Uh, Mayhorn. Hello” his voice stuttered a little as he pocketed his cell phone, before he took a slightly defensive standing position, while looking at Vic. 

Mayhorn looked over at Vic, who was looking at the Chief, who was looking at her. Obviously like they were having a wordless conversation. Then he put two and two together. 

“He’s the guy? You are dating the Chief? Seriously? The Chief of the entire Seattle Fire Department?” He asked incredulously. 

Vic looked a little sheepish and Lucas’ face flushed slightly but he still was standing there slightly defensive, ready to step in if things got bad but he wanted to let Vic handle it. 

And she started too. 

“Look,I-..” but she was cut off by Mayhorn, who obviously wasn’t finished. 

“No. What the hell Hughes? What are you sleeping around the department? Was I just some stepping stone on your way to the top? What, you think all of a sudden you sleep with the Chief, he’s gonna give you everything you want?” He scoffed. “I should’ve known you were just some slut” 

What the fuck? 

Okay, now she was mad. She looked at him with wide eyes and her mouth agape. She thought Mayhorn was a nice guy but she never thought he’d be the one to accuse her of such a thing. God, she wanted to rip him a new one. And she would’ve but, 

Lucas broke first. 

“Okay Mayhorn hold on. You don’t get to speak to her like that” Lucas took one large step towards them. 

But Vic stepped in before he could speak more. 

“It’s okay Lucas, I can handle this” she said to him, before turning to Mayhorn. 

“Look, I never intended to hurt you. Hell, I honestly thought I’d never run into you again. I’m very sorry for the way things ended between us, and I take full responsibility for that, I should’ve called you at least. But my relationship with Lucas is the last thing that you get to criticize. And if I ever hear you speak to me or about me the way you just did, we are going to have a problem.” Vic told him as she looked him dead in the eyes. 

He scoffed, “what are you gonna do? Hit me?” 

She was about to come and do exactly that but Lucas got there first, “No she won’t, because I will” he said getting in Mayhorns face. “I’ve seen your file Mayhorn. You’ve got other reprimands. To me you are just another disrespectful low life that deserves to get hit, and I’d honestly love to be the one to do it. And that won’t be the last thing either, I will have you in with HR for a harassment meeting so fast, you won’t even be able to blink. And trust me, they won’t handle things as kindly as I would. So I would think long and hard before you start accusing my firefighters of things they didn’t do. Understood?” 

Mayhorn glared at him, but responded affirmatively. “Yes sir.” Then he turned to look at Vic one more time before storming out of the kitchen. 

Vic let a deep shaky breath out. 

“Well that went swimmingly” looking over at Lucas. 

He ran his fingers through his hair and sighed, “He had no right to speak to you like that” 

Vic could tell what Mayhorn said bothered Lucas. They both knew she nor Lucas would never take advantage of their positions nor each other, but it still hurt to hear someone else insinuate that. 

“Hey, look at me” she said walking up to him, and placing her hands on his cheek, “you and I both know the truth about our relationship, our friends know the truth, heck HR knows the truth. That’s all that matters. Let everyone else talk, frankly i don’t give a damn. Okay? Lucas Ripley, you are the kindest man I know, and I know you’d never abuse your power as Chief, so don’t let some prick like Mayhorn make you think otherwise.” She looked up at him, and then placed a soft kiss on his lips. He deepened the kiss and when he felt her moan into it, he pulled her as close as possible and ran his fingers up her back to the base of her head and into her hair, gently playing with her curls. Eventually the need for air became too much and they both pulled part. 

He rested his head against her forehead and closed his eyes, silent for a moment before saying, “Victoria..” 

“I know” she said before he could continue. 

“You didn’t even hear what I was going to say?” He asked with a smile on his face. 

“You were going to tell me you loved me” she smiled up at him. 

He tilted his head and looked at her with a shocked face, and then the corners of his mouth started lifting up in a smile. 

“How’d you know?” 

“Well apparently according to Travis, the entire team sees it, we’re the last ones to realize” she teases him. 

He laughs and shakes his head, but then turns serious as he rests one hand on her hip, and then brings the other up to cup her cheek. 

“Well it’s true. I love you Victoria Hughes, so much” he says while looking into those deep brown eyes he loves so much.

Vic blushes but doesn’t break their eye contact, “I love you too, Lucas Ripley” 

They each have this goofy smile plastered to their face, before they both lean in for a kiss that leaves them breathless several minutes later. 

“Well as fitting as it is that we shared our first “I love you’s” at the station, I kind of don’t want to share the rest of you here” she teased him and then pulled apart from him and grabbed his hand. 

He chuckled, “Let’s go home.” And then held his hand out for her to lead the way. “After you m’lady”’

And boy did Lucas love to watch her lead. He shook his head to himself, Victoria Hughes would definitely keep him on his toes, hopefully for the rest of their lives. Now that was something he could get used too.


End file.
